A Dangerous Love (11 page)

Both men were surprised by the girl’s beauty. They bowed, and Robert kissed her hand gallantly. “My lady, I am Robert Lynbridge of Hillview. I bring you greet-ings from my grandfather, Lord Humphrey. He knew both your parents.”

“I remember your grandfather, sir. He once called at Stanton when I was a child.”

“May I present my younger brother, Andrew Lynbridge,” Robert said.

Boldly Andrew Lynbridge locked his gaze on Adair, and to his surprise she did not look away. He kissed her hand, his eyes never leaving hers. “My lady,” was all he said as he bowed to her.

Adair took back her hand. “Come and be seated by the fire, sirs. Albert, wine for our guests.” She turned to Robert. “How is your grandfather?”

“Crusty as ever,” Robert replied with a small smile.

“He will be delighted you recalled him.”

“I remember you too,” Adair surprised him. “But you were far too grown-up to be bothered paying attention to a little girl of five,” she said. “It was at the midsummer fair the year before the troubles came upon us. But I do not recall your brother.”

“I left Hillview to join Duke Richard’s forces when I was sixteen,” Andrew said.

“Ahh!” Adair’s face lit up. “You fought with Uncle Dickon?”

“And went to France with him as well,” was his reply.

“Why do you call the duke Uncle Dickon, if I may be so bold, my lady?”

“After my parents were murdered I was raised in the king’s nursery,” Adair explained. “The Duke of Gloucester is very beloved of all the children there.

When my nurse and I had almost reached London it was he who found us and saw we were taken to the queen in Westminster. He asked that I call him uncle.”

“Ah,” Robert said. “So that is where you have been all these years. In the king’s house. We had wondered where you had fled for safety.”

“Yes,” Adair said. “I was with the royal family.”

Albert came now, offering wine and biscuits to the guests.

“Why have you come home to Stanton now?” Robert inquired.

“I thought it was time,” Adair said. “Ten years is a long while to be away, and Uncle Dickon said the house was habitable. My Stanton folk have worked very hard to help me refurbish it. We discovered chests of fabric that had not been found and looted. It has allowed us to make curtains and bed draperies. And they built a loom for me. I have begun a tapestry, the first of several I will do to replace the ones stolen.”

“And when will your husband be joining you?”

Robert asked pleasantly. “He will undoubtedly be pleased to see the excellent progress you have made in restoring your home. We shall look forward to seeing you both in the spring at Hillview. I know that would please our grandfather greatly.”

Adair flushed, and then, drawing a breath, said, “I have no husband, sir.”

“I should not have thought that the king would allow a maiden of your tender years to return to her home alone,” Andrew Lynbridge said softly, watching Adair closely as he spoke. The talk of a husband had turned his serene hostess edgy.

“I am sixteen, sir, and quite capable of running my own house. Albert watches over all, and I have appointed Dark Walter as captain of my men at arms. England is at peace, and the Scots are not raiding currently.

But if they did we should be able to protect Stanton now. In my father’s time it was thought we were too isolated to be bothered with, but I am wary of all. I have known since midmorning that you were coming to visit.

I have watchers in the hills,” Adair told him.

“A wise precaution,” Robert agreed, nodding. “And most clever.”

“You must remain the night,” Adair said. “With winter upon us it is already almost sunset. There is no moon to guide you home.” She turned to Albert, who had been hovering in the background. “Tell Cook we have guests.”

“Yes, m’lady,” he said, and hurried off.

“I thank you for your hospitality,” Robert responded.

“And in the years I have been away,” Adair said to him, “have you both taken wives and sired children? I’m sure that would please your grandfather.”

“I have a wife,” Robert told her. “She has given me twin lads, and will birth another child in late winter. And aye, Grandsire is pleased.”

“And you, sir?” Adair asked Andrew. “Have you a wife?”

“Nay,” he told her. “I haven’t found a woman who pleases me enough. Yet.”

“Albert says we have guests.” Elsbeth now bustled into the hall.

“Robert and Andrew Lynbridge, old Lord Hum-

phrey’s grandsons from Hillview,” Adair told her. “Sirs, this is my nurse and dear companion, Elsbeth. It was Elsbeth who took me to the king.”

Both men nodded, murmuring almost simultane
ously, “Mistress Elsbeth.”

“I have asked them to remain, as the night is upon us,” Adair said. “Will you see that a guest chamber is prepared for them?”

“Bed spaces in the hall will be more comfortable, and warmer,” Elsbeth said, eyeing both young men suspiciously. “Does Brenna still lie with your grandfather?”

“More to keep the old man warm now,” Andrew Lynbridge said with a grin. “You know Brenna, Mistress Elsbeth?”

“We are kin,” Elsbeth replied tartly, “although I rarely admit to it, for Brenna is no better than she ought to be, and never was.”

Andrew Lynbridge laughed loudly. “She’s a wicked piece, and always was,” he agreed, “but she has a kind heart and is good to the old man. She cares for him like her own babe, and best of all, she makes him laugh. He is much infirm now, but she rarely leaves his side. She’ll always have a place at Hillview.”

“Agreed!” Robert echoed his younger brother.

Having satisfied herself, and none too subtly, that the two men were who they said they were, Elsbeth left the hall to get the bedding and make up the two bed spaces that the Lynbridge brothers would sleep in tonight.

Robert appeared a sensible man, and settled, but the younger sibling, Andrew, was, Elsbeth suspected, a proper hell-raiser. It was plain to see no woman had yet tamed him.

Neither of them, especially that Andrew, was going to get above the hall tonight, Elsbeth decided. Adair had her reputation to protect. She was young, innocent, and beautiful. But there was no other woman of rank in the house who could attest that her virtue was intact come the morning. The word of a servant was rarely accepted as legitimate. No. Their visitors would remain in the hall tonight. And she would alert Dark Walter to station some men at arms discreetly in the upstairs hall.

In the hall Adair entertained her guests with tales of the royal court, totally unaware that Andrew Lynbridge was studying her with a very practiced eye. The lass was indeed a beauty, he thought to himself. All cats might look alike in the dark, he recalled his grandsire saying, but this little kitten was a feast for the eyes in the light.

Maybe it was time to consider settling down, he considered.

And as Andrew watched Adair, Robert watched his sibling, and a small, knowing smile touched his lips. The girl was just the sort his brother should wed. She was beautiful, and she had spirit. No milksop of a girl would satisfy Andrew. His grandsire was going to be well pleased with the success of this visit, Robert thought.

And then Albert was announcing that the meal was ready to be eaten. He surreptitiously nodded to Andrew to escort Adair to the high board, watching as he seated her and she turned a smiling face up to him.
Good.

Good,
he thought to himself. Then he settled down to eat the very excellent supper that was served them. If Andrew could woo and win the lovely Adair Radcliffe he would be a most fortunate man. After the meal they settled before the fire, and Adair played her lute for them. Then they told of the region that she had left so precipitously as a little girl.

“What are you doing about the cattle?” Robert asked her. “I saw none grazing as we rode your lands, lady.”

“There are none,” Adair said. “The Scots pillaged them, but I will restock come the spring. I did not think it prudent to do so now. There would not have been enough to feed cattle over the winter months. My parents left me a small inheritance, and I know they would want me to bring Stanton back to its small glory.” She arose. “Now I will bid you good night, sirs. My day begins early. Elsbeth has made up your bed spaces on either side of the hearth. You will be quite warm.” She curtsied to them and left the hall, followed slowly by an aged wolfhound.

“She is not horse-faced,” Robert said softly to his brother.

“Nay, she certainly is not,” Andrew Lynbridge answered.

“You will come courting in the spring?”

“I will come courting this winter,” Andrew said.

“None shall have her but me.”

“Grandsire will be pleased,” Robert noted.

Andrew laughed. “Aye, he will, the old devil. But Stanton lands will be mine, Rob. I will not share them with Grandsire. You and I understand each other, but the old man can be greedy.”

Robert Lynbridge nodded. “Agreed. But first you have to get the lass to accept you, little brother.”

“Make no mistake, Rob, I mean to have her. If she cries nay I will convince her otherwise, even if it means forcing her to the altar. Women will generally come around if you handle them properly and love them well,” Andrew said.

“You’re ruthless, like Grandsire,” Robert remarked.

“Perhaps I am,” Andrew Lynbridge agreed slowly,

“but God’s foot, she is lovely! I can’t let anyone else have her. And Grandsire is correct in one thing: Why should the Nevilles and the Percys have all the land hereabouts?”

“She has spirit,” Robert replied. “Treat her gently and you may win her over. But should you woo her too roughly she will fight you.”

“I enjoy a good challenge,” his sibling said with a wicked grin.

“I suspect you have found one,” Robert responded, grinning back at Andrew.

T
he following morning dawned clear again, but there was a hint of snow in the wind that blew from the northwest. As the good chatelaine she had been taught to be, Adair was up long before her guests.

She saw to it the servants brought them water in which to bathe, and there was breakfast at the high board almost immediately. Adair joined the Lynbridge brothers as a trencher of bread filled with hot oat stirabout was placed before each of them. Newly baked bread was set upon a cutting board along with half a wheel of hard yellow cheese. Cups were filled with sweet cider.

“You keep a fine table, Mistress Adair,” Robert Lynbridge complimented his hostess. “When the spring comes I hope to visit you again, and mayhap I will bring my wife, should she be recovered from her childbed.”

“I will certainly welcome you both,” Adair replied graciously.

“I will come before the spring,” Andrew Lynbridge said.

“Why?” Adair surprised him by asking.

“I would ask your permission to court you,” Andrew answered her.

“I do not choose to be courted,” Adair told him frankly. “I have just returned home after ten years away.

Do you not think I know my own value? Every man who says he will court me wants my lands, sir. But I am not ready yet to give up my newfound freedoms for the marriage bed and childbirth.”

“Nonetheless, I will come courting,” Andrew said,

“whether you will or no, Adair Radcliffe, and I shall not be the only man on your doorstep suing for your hand.

But I will be the only man worthy of you.”

“Indeed, sir, and you have a fine opinion of yourself, I can see,” Adair responded tartly. “I can but wonder what others say of you, but I shall ask, you may be certain.”

“Our families have been neighbors for many years,”

Robert Lynbridge said quietly. “It would please both my grandsire and me should you accept my brother’s suit.”

Adair smiled at the older of the Lynbridge brothers.

“I am flattered, sir, by the attention that your family would lavish upon me,” she said, “but I need some time to myself before I consider any marriage I would make.

And I would want Uncle Dickon’s advice and blessing on any union I might consider contracting,” Adair told them.

Robert nodded. “I understand, and you are, of course, correct. I know my brother would certainly accept the duke’s decision in the matter.” He stood up. “The weather is unusually fair this day, and I think that Andrew and I should take the opportunity to journey home before the day is much further advanced.” He nodded to his younger brother, who also arose.

Adair now stood. “Elsbeth, fetch a jar of the plum preserves I did in September.” She turned to the two men. “For your grandsire, sirs. As I remember he had a sweet tooth for my mother’s plum preserves, and I have used her recipe.”

Andrew chuckled. “He still has that sweet tooth, sweetheart, and I shall tell him you sent the preserves to him with a kiss.”

Adair burst out laughing. “How is it that two brothers 
can be so different?” she asked him. “You are quite wicked, sir.”

“But you like it,” he teased her, and chuckled again when she blushed.

“Here is the jar,” Elsbeth said, coming up to them and shoving it into Andrew’s hand. “Try not to break it, my fine laddie, before the old man has a taste.”

Adair escorted her guests into the courtyard, where their horses were even now awaiting them. It was at that moment they heard the blare of horns and the thunder of hoofbeats, but before they had a chance to consider it a large party of horsemen swept into the courtyard, led by Duke Richard.

Adair’s face lit up when she saw him, and she ran to his horse as he dismounted, kissing the beringed hand he held out to her. “Uncle Dickon! Welcome to Stanton!”

The Duke of Gloucester kissed his niece on both cheeks, and then, setting her back from him, said, “You have been a very naughty girl, poppet. The king was most disturbed when you departed court so precipitously. It was most rash of you.”

“You know why I left,” Adair said softly.

The duke nodded, and then his eyes swept over the two young men. “Andrew Lynbridge,” he said. “And this must be your elder brother.”

“My lord duke,” Andrew said, bowing low. “It is good to see you again. And, aye, this is my brother, Robert, our grandsire’s heir.”